Luxemburgo gets the chop after Keirrison outburst

Vanderlei Luxemburgo has made a shock exit from Palmeiras. On Friday, the coach said he was annoyed by the way he had been kept out of the loop over the transfer of Keirrison to Barcelona and added that if the deal fell through, he wouldn’t want the player back whilst he was in charge. Palmeiras acted swiftly and shortly after, the coach announced his departure from the club on Twitter in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“I’m no longer coach of Palmeiras. I was fired because I disagreed with Keirrison’s attitude”.

Luxemburgo had come in for some stick from a large number of Palmeiras fans following the club’s recent exit from the Libertadores. Put the Palestra Itália hierarchy confirmed he had been sacked because of the fall out over Keirrison.

Luxemburgo has won the league title five times – more than any other coach in Brazil. While Palmeiras lifted the Campeonato Paulista in 2008, they failed to live up to expectations in the Brasileiro and the Libertadores. The sacking shows just how difficult it is for coaches to operate when a third party has such an influence at the club. Traffic fund all Palmeiras’ signings with the tacit agreement that they can sell any player without having to get permission from the club or the coach. On this occasion, Luxemburgo felt that the situation was clearly at odds with his role as manager.

Palmeiras are 4th in this year’s table and are at home to archenemies Santos on Sunday.

Muricy Ramalho, who won the Brasileiro with São Paulo for the past three seasons, but who was recently sacked by the club, is now favourite to take over. The contrast in playing style and attitudes between the two men could not be more different. If the Palmeiras fans failed to appreciate the attacking style of football played under Luxemburgo, they are certainly not going to enjoy the defensive tactics of Ramalho.

i also hope that Ramalho isn’t made coach but at least Pameiras might make a real challenge on the Brasileiro – even though it would drive us all insane!
No chance that Felipão will come – Abel Braga is the other option but Palmeiras would have to pay a fortune to buy him out of his contract at the UAE’s Al Jazira Club